Archive for goalball

On Tuesday, February 13, the UCB Goalball Team in collaboration with BORP Goalball went to the California School for the Blind (CSB) in Fremont to play the CSB Goalball Team.

The CSB staff and students showed tremendous support for their team with a pep rally and 100% attendance for the rally and game. Spectators crowded the gym and the game was broadcast into the CSB multi-purpose room for those who couldn’t make it to the gym.

The CSB players showed big improvement since games at BORP on December 13, 2017, and fired up by their home court crowd kept the game close into the 2nd half. At that point, the CAL players asserted themselves and used their superior defensive teamwork and offensive firepower to pull away from the young CSB-ers.

Thanks to CSB Coach Caiti O’Mallor and all the players, students and staff at CSB for a great day of goalball!

Thanks to the CAL/BORP team for making the trip so successful and to BORP for the transportation.

In my various roles during the BORP Goalball Invitational, I am generally too busy to reflect on the events and tenor of the day while it is happening. And year XXIII was no different as we crammed 12 exciting games into an 8-hour period. However, in immediate contemplation post-competition (and with the help of a cold beer(s)), I was most struck by the camaraderie among the athletes and teams and the support the veteran players provide to the less experienced. So, while this event is very much a competition, for me it also embodies the sports experience at its best for the athletes, spectators, and volunteers! It wouldn’t be possible without all of you!

GAME 1: Honey Badgers versus Seriously! Seriously! was not able to field a full squad for this game and played with only 2 players: Bryanna Stubbert and Brandon Young. The Seriously! 2 put up a valiant fight but Honey Badgers were able to find the gaps and hold off Seriously!’s late surge and won 7-4. Chris Lucero had 4 goals for the Honey Badgers and Brandon Young had 4 on the losing side. The Badgers other 3 goals came from Michelle Yoo.

GAME 2: Replicas versus Walking Dead. Two powerhouse teams took the court and both came out firing bombs! Replicas took an early 3-0 lead behind Joe Hamilton’s 3 goals but that lead was gone in a jiffy as Grej Pesjaka scored 5 unanswered goals in a minute and a half to put the Dead up 5-3 at halftime. In the 2nd half the Hamilton/Pesjaka duel continued but the Replicas slowly crept ahead as Replicas’ Roger Acuna found the net for 2 critical goals. The Replicas again fashioned a lead late in the 2nd half and their defense steadied just enough in the final 3 minutes to capture a 10-8 victory. Joe Hamilton had 8 goals for Replicas and Grej Pesjaka had 8 for the Walking Dead.

GAME 3: Seriously! versus Cal Bears. Early nerves put Cal in a 4-1 halftime hole as the defense was slow to get into gear. Seriously!’s goals in the 1st half came from Mandy Gargano (3) and Brandon Young (1). The second half was more of the same as Young (2) and Gargano (1) led Seriously! to a 7-2 triumph over the Bears. Sergio Lopez and Tiffany Zhao each had a goal for Cal.

Christella Garcia throws the ball

GAME 4: Honey Badgers versus Replicas. An early goal by Replicas’ Christella Garcia was the only score in the 1st half as both teams played superlative defense. In the 2nd half the Replicas built their lead to 3-0 with goals coming from Garcia and Casimir Werda. Starting at the 3:22 mark the Honey Badgers offense came alive and goals from Lucero (2), Jeshua Aveno (1) and Yoo (1) put the Badgers ahead 4-3 with 14 seconds left. This only left time for one more throw from the Replicas’s and Garcia made it count with a goal and a 4-4 tie.

GAME 5: Cal Bears versus Walking Dead. A re-grouped Bears team shed their first game jitters and took a 3-0 lead in the 1st half with goals from Lopez (2) and Jessica Adams (1). Walking Dead’s Pesjaka led a 2nd half surge with 5 goals but the Bears kept up their scoring as Lopez tallied 3 and Adams 1 to earn a 7-5 win.

GAME 6: Seriously! versus Replicas. Replicas blistered the nets throughout the 1st half and took a 6-3 lead with goals from Hamilton (3), Acuna (2) and Garcia (1). Both teams came out with a defensive mindset in the 2nd half and shot after shot was blocked with each team getting only one more goal and Replicas eventually taking the 7-4 win. Replicas final goal tallies were: Hamilton 3, Acuna 3 and Garcia 1 while Seriously! had 2 from Khemnesuel Fisher, 1 from Bryanna Stubbert and 1 from Young.

GAME 7: Walking Dead versus Honey Badgers. Walking Dead got an early goal and never took their foot off the gas pedal against the Honey Badgers. Badgers got 2 late goals in the 2nd half but no answer for the Dead onslaught and lost 9-2. Dead goals came from Pesjaka (5), Victor Hakopian (2), Jon Marcotte (1) and Elena Hodges (1). Honey Badgers’ Aveno and Lucero had 1 goal each.

GAME 8: Replicas versus CAL Bears. Team defense was the story of this game with Replicas Building a 3-1 lead behind goals from Acuna (2) and Micah Aveno (1). In the 2nd half Cal scored an early goal to pull within 1 but could not break through and lost the nail-biter 3-2. Sergio Lopez scored both Cal goals.

GAME 9: Walking Dead versus Seriously!. Young and Fisher led the offense for Seriously! while Pesjaka was in top form for Walking Dead. When the dust had settled Dead had an 8-6 win with all 8 goals coming from Pesjaka. Fisher (4) and Young (2) had the Seriously! goals.

Jeshua Aveno dives to block the ball.

GAME 10: Cal Bears versus Honey Badgers. Brilliant defense characterized the first half of this match. At halftime, the score was 1-1 with Lopez scoring the Bears goal and Aveno the Badgers lone tally. The 2nd half was similar through the first 2 minutes but then the Bears went on a goal-a-minute spree, with 2 goals each from Lopez and Adams, and rolled to a 5-1 triumph.

With Pool Play complete the matchups for the playoffs were set with Walking Dead facing Honey Badgers in the 3rd Place game and Replicas and Cal Bears in the title match.

GAME 11: 3rd Place: Walking Dead versus Honey Badgers. In pool play Walking Dead had made quick work of Honey Badgers but the 3rd Place game was a different story. Both teams were in good defensive form and half #1 ended in a 2-2 tie. Dead’s 2 goals came from Hakopian while Badgers got 1 apiece from Aveno and Lucero. In the 2nd half the Badgers crept ahead 4-2 with goals from Aveno and Lucero, but that lead evaporated quickly as the Dead’s Pesjaka blasted 3 quick goals through the Badgers defense. The Badgers got a tying goal (5-5) from Yoo with 1:35 left but Pesjaka found the net one more time with 40 second left and secured the 6-5 3rd Place victory for the Walking Dead.

Cal Bears embrace after winning the tournament

GAME 12: 1st Place: Cal Bears versus Replicas. The Bears who started the day with a shaky defense, re-found their mojo to get in the title game while the Replicas used their all-around game play throughout the day to earn their spot. Cal owned the first half and the first 6 minutes of the 2nd half and had a 4-0 lead with 1 minute left behind 4 goals from Lopez. Quick back-to-back goals from the Replicas’ Hamilton put the result in doubt with 32 looong seconds left. However, with the game on the line, Cal tightened up their defense and won the title of BORP Goalball Invitational XXIII, 4-2. Go Bears!

End of an Era

Bill Johnson, BORP goalball volunteer, for almost 3 decades is moving to Grant’s Pass Oregon. BORP Goalball commissioned a tribute book for Bill from Scot Goodman including photos from his career at BORP and the following text.

“Bill Johnson Loves Goalball!

And the BORP Goalball Program and all our participants benefited from that love for almost 30 years. Bill wore every hat the program has, including: player, coach, referee, driver. floor taper, fundraiser, team sponsor (Autopsychic.com) and ambassador. Nearly every week (thanks, Teresa) Bill showed up early to help set up the court, coach early arrivals and rookies, play, referee, shag balls, clean up and ferry people to BART or Lane Splitters for post-practice “analysis”. Known in his playing days as InvinciBill (or InvisiBill) he is definitely IrreplaceaBill and his contributions to the long term success of BORP Goalball will never be eclipsed.”

We were honored to have two 2016 Rio Paralympic medalists join us for the day: Joe Hamilton won Silver with the USA Men’s Goalball Team and Christella Garcia won a Bronze in Judo.

BORP Goalball Invitational Report

Five teams took the court to determine BORP Goalball supremacy and the ultimate champions went undefeated to claim the crown.

CAL Bears and ZaZa’s All Stars got the tournament started with a run-away that turned into a nail-biter. CAL took a 3-0 lead into the final 3 minutes behind 2 Will Slason goals and 1 from Jessica Adams. With 2:21 left Shen Kuan scored for the All Stars and that’s when the game got really interesting. A 4th goal for CAL from Adams at 1:26 seemed like it would salt the game but the All Stars Sergio Lopez scored with 34 seconds and Mandy Gargano with 15 and the score was 4-3. CAL’s defense held for the last All Stars’ throw (Yow!) and the game ended 4-3 as CAL Coach Newman had a heart attack :-).

Game 2 paired Roll City against Tequila Poppers and was a heavyweight shoot-out with each team owning a half. Tequila Poppers used 4 Abel Del Toro goals and 1 from Victor Hakopian to take a 5-3 lead at halftime. Joe Hamilton accounted for all Roll City’s first half goals. In the second half an early flurry of 3 goals in a minute from Grej Presjaka put Roll City on top 6-5. The goals kept coming for Roll City with 2 from Hamilton, 1 from Presjaka and 1 from Jon Marcotte to take a 10-7 victory. Del Toro and Bryanna Stubbert has a goal apiece for the Poppers in the 2nd half.

Game 3 was another offensive thriller with a twist. 2 month old goalball rookie fan Zyona “ZaZa” Gargano Young was treated to a match-up between her parents (Mandy Gargano and Brandon Young) as ZaZa’s All Stars (Gargano) took on PKRB (Young). Young’s PKRB squad jumped out to an early lead behind 2 goals apiece from Young and Khemnesuel Fisher. The All Star’s used goals from Kuan and Lopez to stay close and the score was 4-2 at half. The All Stars ratcheted up the offense in the second half as Lopez and Kuan scored 2 more goals each to put the outcome in doubt. However PKRB maintained their lead with 4 goals of their own (Young 3, Fisher 1) and held on for the 8-6 win and family bragging rights for Young.

Tequila Poppers and CAL Bears squared off in Game 4 and Poppers, as they say, came loaded for Bear. The Poppers could do no wrong in the first half and took a 6-2 halftime lead behind 4 goals from Del Toro and 2 from Hakopian. The Bears were not without fight and their revitalized second half defense held the Poppers to 1 Del Toro goal while the Bears added 2 to theirs. Final was 7-4 and both teams had much to be proud of. CAL had 2 goals each from Slason and Adams.

PKRB and Roll City was a Game 5 shoot-out as each team sent rocket after rocket cross court and into the opposing defense. A 3-3 halftime score was the prelude for an explosion of goals from Roll City that PKRB could not match. The final was 11-6 Roll City. Young tallied all 6 PKRB goals while Presjaka 5, Christella Garcia 3, Hamilton 2 and Marcotte 1 all scored for Roll City.

ZaZa’s All Stars and Tequila Poppers showed their defensive mettle in Game 6 and it wasn’t until late in the first half that either team scored. The All Stars got a goal from Lopez to take the lead but Del Toro and Stubbert answered and had the Poppers up 2-1 at half. The second half saw Poppers adding on a goal per Popper (Del Toro, Hakopian, Stubbert) to go up 5-1. The All Stars tightened up their defense and used goals from Kuan and Lopez to draw within 2 but ran out of time and succumbed 5-3.

The 7th game of the day was a brilliant defensive “clinic” between the CAL Bears and Roll City. CAL’s Tiffany Zhao made her debut in the middle and anchored a first half shut-out for the Bear while CAL’s Slason provided the only first half goal for either team. The excellent defense continued for both teams through the 2nd half as players for both teams blocked ball after ball. The teams hammered away at each other relentlessly and finally with 3 minutes left Roll City’s Presjaka found a crack in the CAL defense for City’s first goal. With the outcome still in doubt, Garcia blasted in City’s game winner 1 minute later for the 2-1 win.

Game 8 offered no relief from the tension of the previous game, only a difference in styles as PKRB and Tequila Poppers staged an offensive fireworks show for 10 minutes that flipped to a defensive struggle at the end. PKRB’s Young was in top form in the first half and his 6 goals led his team to a 6-4 halftime lead while Poppers’ had 3 from Del Toro and 1 from Hakopian to stay within striking distance. In the second half the Poppers’ defense stiffened and relinquished only 1 PKRB goal from Fisher. With 2 minutes left the Poppers had forged a tie behind 2 goals by Del Toro and 1 by Stubbert. Defensive artistry from both teams kept the score unchanged and the game ended 7-7.

Roll City and ZAZa’s All Stars matched up for Game 9 and City’s Presjaka was on form early leading his team to a 5-2 halftime lead scoring all 5 City goals. Lopez had the All Stars 2 goals and in position for a 2nd half run. An early 2nd half City goal by Hamilton pushed the lead to 4 and while the All Stars played great 2nd half defense they were matched in that regard by City and absorbed a 6-2 loss.

Game 10 was the final game of Group Play and would determine who was in 2nd and 3rd in the group. PKRB needed a 4 goal win over CAL to make the title game as Tequila Poppers held the goal differential advantage. PKRB showed they were ready for the challenge early and used 3 Fisher goals and 1 from Young to take a 4-2 lead over CAL at halftime. CAL had goals from Julie Cabrera and Slason to stay in touch and set up an exciting finish. In the 2nd half PKRB jumped their lead to 3 as Fisher notched another goal but then the Bears put a wall in front of their goal and started chipping away at the PKRB advantage. 2 goals from CAL’s Adams sandwiched around a Slason rocket evened the score 5-5 with a minute left. And after a loooong minute that’s the way it ended.

With Group Play finished the match-ups were set for the the play-offs. The 3rd Place game had PKRB and CAL while Roll City and Tequila Poppers were set for the 1st Place game.

After a 20 minute break PKRB and CAL took the court and picked up where they left off from Group Play. PKRB had the early advantage behind 2 goals from Fisher and 1 from Young but CAL’s Slason got one back for CAL and burnished hopes for a 2nd half comeback. CAL’s Adams fed those hopes with a quick goal to get CAL to 3-2 and 6 minutes of courageous goalball followed. With both teams blasting away and both defenses in lock-down mode the tension rose with every throw until ultimately PKRB prevailed 3-2.

The Championship between Roll City and Tequila Poppers had a similar script in the first half to the 3rd Place game. City took a 3-1 lead with 2 goals from Hamilton and 1 from Garcia while the Poppers’ Del Toro punched 1 in right before the buzzer. The Poppers closed to 3-2 with an early goal from Del Toro and a quick exchange of goals from City’s Hamilton followed almost immediately by a Del Toro strike had the score at 4-3 with 5 minutes left. From there it was all City as they settled their defense and used 2 more Presjaka goals and 1 from Hamilton to secure the BORP Invitational title.

Thanks to all the volunteers, teams, families, friends and sponsors for their generous donations of money, time, goods and services. It is an honor to be associated with all of you and share this wonderful event (that started as my senior project at New College in 1995).

Thanks to Delta Gamma (DG) for their enthusiastic support of goalball and BORP throughout the year and especially to Sierra Westhem for her leadership in expanding the collaboration between BORP and DG.

More thanks to all day volunteers: Leslie Zander, Stephanie Spenny, Bill Johnson, Scot Goodman and end of day helpers: Jessica Adams and Matt Grigorieff

BORP will host the 20th edition of the BORP Goalball Invitational

December 6, 2014

James Kenney Recreation Center, 1720 8th Street, Berkeley.

Seven teams will compete for the title in the longest running goalball tournament on the West Coast. The Sacramento River Bats led by USA Team player Joe Hamilton and coached by USA Assistant Coach Matt Boyle return to defend their title against a loaded field including many Paralympians past, present (and future).

September 14 is BORP Opening Day 2013. The public is invited to come out and watch and play Paralympic Sports including Wheelchair Basketball, Goalball, Adaptive Cycling, and Power Soccer. Information will be available on all BORP programs including the BORP Fitness Studio, Sled Hockey, Adventures & Outings, Veterans’ Outreach, the Revolution Ride and more!

Congratulations to BORP Goalball participant Abel Del Toro who was selected to the USA Men’s Youth Goalball Team and will compete with the team at the 2013 International Blind Sports Federation World Youth Goalball Championships in Colorado Springs, CO from July 9-15, 2013. Go USA! Go Abel!